I don't mean to repeat myself. Since this is a guide focused on the installation of a validator node, I refer you to the introduction of my previous article, where I talked in-more-depth about what a validator node is and why it makes sense to launch one in testnet.

In this article I intend to focus mainly on how to successfully launch a validator node on Taiko L2.

But first, what is Taiko?

Taiko L2 - Soluzione di Scalabilità di Ethereum tramite ZK-Rollup, EVM Equivalente

Taiko is a Type 1 ZK-EVM Ethereum ZK-Rollup, having greater compatibility than other competing ZK-Rollup solutions such as Linea zkEVM or Polygon zkEVM.

They raised $22M from several Tier 1 VCs - including Sequoia China, Generative Ventures, BAI Capital, GGV Capital, GSR Markets, Kucoin Ventures, OKX Ventures - but also from angel investors, most notably Vitalik Buterin.

The $TKO token has been confirmed by the team itself in their whitepaper and will be used as a reward for block proposers who participate in the creation of proofs, and this mechanism will be perfectly transparent to users.

However, I asked myself a question first of all: will there be a $TKO airdrop?

The answer is this:

So yes, it is ABSOLUTELY worth trying your luck, especially if there is this kind of confirmation from the Taiko Labs team itself!

Wen token?

This is a legitimate question. However, let's start from the beginning: wen mainnet?

About this topic, Taiko Labs is very clear.

Taiko Mainnet expects to launch with blob data transaction support after EIP-4844 is released. However, Taiko can support transactions without EIP-4844 blob data as well.

We can see from Ethereum’s Official Roadmap that protodanksharding will be launched via Dencun update, the release is scheduled

• on Goerli network for January 17, 2024;

• on Sepolia network for January 30, 2024;

• on Holesky network for February 7, 2024.

The Shapella update took 2 months of testing before it was released on the mainnet, I therefore assume that we will wait at least April-May 2024 to have Taiko L2 launched on the mainnet.

Now let's see together how to launch the simple-node!

Don’t forget to subscribe on Mirror to stay tuned to all future articles.

Taiko Simple Node Installation - Step-by-Step Guide (Updated to the Latest Testnet!)

To begin the procedure, you need a computer with any Linux distro installed, Ubuntu 20.04 or later will do, an SSD with +200 GB and a fast Internet connection.

For those without resources capable of supporting a validator node at home, you can fall back on VPS (Virtual Private Server) solutions, that is, you can rent a virtual server.

There are several solutions, which I recommend below:

• Contabo, I recommend the Cloud VPS M model, with 6 vCPU Cores, 16 GB RAM, 400 GB SSD SATA3;

• Aeza, I recommend at least the VIEs-3 or PARs-3 model, with 4 vCPU Cores, 8 GB RAM, 120 GB NVMe. This is a Russian VPS service and payment by credit/debit card is not possible from many Western countries, but payments in crypto (BTC, BEP20, ERC20, TRC20, DASH, LTC, XMR...) are possible.

After payment is made, you will receive the IP address to access.

If operating from Windows, download the PuTTy app - SSH and telnet client - and enter the IP address of the VPS. A Linux terminal screen will open for you.

Enter the username (usually root) and password you chose at the time of purchase. If you have done everything correctly, the following screen will appear:

Now enter the following commands and execute them:

sudo apt -y update
sudo apt -y upgrade
sudo apt -y install git ca-certificates curl gnupg lsb-release
sudo apt autoremove

Create the keyrings folder and install docker:

sudo mkdir -p /etc/apt/keyrings

curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/gpg | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg

echo \
  "deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg] https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu \
  $(lsb_release -cs) stable" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list > /dev/null

sudo apt -y update
sudo apt -y install docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io docker-compose-plugin

To make sure that everything has been installed correctly, run the following command, it should return the message shown in the comment:

sudo docker run hello-world

# Hello from Docker!
# This message shows that your installation appears to be working correctly

At this point we are ready to install the Taiko Simple Node. Let's start by cloning the repository on Github, copy the sample .env file and open it with nano:

git clone https://github.com/taikoxyz/simple-taiko-node.git
cd simple-taiko-node
cp .env.sample .env

nano .env

Here be careful to change the file parameters as follows, using data from your BlockPi dashboard:

# Add your BlockPi HTTPS and WSS links, activate "Archive mode"
L1_ENDPOINT_HTTP = HTTP of your RPC
L1_ENDPOINT_WS = WSS of your RPC
L1_BEACON_HTTP = https://ethereum-holesky-beacon-api.publicnode.com

# If you want to be a block proposer, change these settings
ENABLE_PROPOSER = true
L1_PROPOSER_PRIVATE_KEY = <private-key-wallet>
L2_SUGGESTED_FEE_RECIPIENT = <public-address>

# Add these prover endpoints
PROVER_ENDPOINTS=http://hekla.stonemac65.xyz:9876,http://kenz-prover.hekla.kzvn.xyz:9876

For every endpoint, check the fee requested by the third party prover. You can find the entire prover market list on Taiko’s documentation at this link.

Save the .env file as reported earlier by pressing Ctrl + X, Y and then Enter.

Now run the command:

docker compose --profile proposer up -d

Use the following bridge to move some Holesky ETH to Katla L2 (1 ETH is enough).You can request some faucet on Holesky here: Link

Congratulations, you have successfully completed the installation of your node!

To see if everything is working properly, you can access a dashboard from the following link, replace YOUR_IP with your VPS IP address:

YOUR_IP:3001/d/L2ExecutionEngine/l2-execution-engine-overview

As an alternative, wolfez and helios from dojonode.xyz offer the ability to launch a custom dashboard that will summarize the activity of your Taiko L2 node in an easy-to-read GUI.

To do this, launch the following commands one at a time:

cd
git clone --single-branch --branch dashboard-only https://github.com/wolfderechter/taiko-node-dashboard-docker

cd taiko-node-dashboard-docker
docker compose up

Upon launching the last command, you will be able to enter the IP address of your VPS, followed by port 7744, into your browser and view the status of your validator node.

YOUR_IP:7744

To update the Taiko node to the latest release, run the following commands and be sure to change the RPCs in case you run out of your provider's RUs (BlockPi, Alchemy, Infura...):

cd simple-taiko-node
docker compose --profile proposer down
git pull origin main && docker compose pull
docker compose --profile proposer up -d

# Check logs with the following command, proposer logs only
docker compose --profile proposer logs -f

This guide has been updated in order to support the new Alpha-6, on Holesky L1 and Katla L2 network, the final phase of Taiko L2 testnet.

If you like my work, I suggest you to subscribe and mint the entry in order to support my work. The cost is insignificant for you, but it helps me to know that you like this kind of content.